The College of Charleston suffered through its worst half of shooting this season as Charleston Southern fought back from a 12-point half-time deficit to earn the 58-53 win in women's basketball action tonight in front of 1,107 fans at the North Charleston Coliseum.
The loss drops the Cougars to 2-4, while the Buccaneers improve to 2-4. Charleston travels to UNC Wilmington Dec. 2nd for a 2:00 p.m. contest.
Charleston found itself down 13-7 with 9:26 left in the first half, before the team rattled off 19 unanswered points to take the 26-13 lead with 3:25 left before intermission. Ashley Scott scored seven of her nine points during that stretch to spark the Cougars. A two-pointer by Shaunte Small with 1:44 ended the CSU drought. However, the Bucs would only scored one more basket in the half and the Cougars, helped by a 22-4 run, ended the half leading 29-17.
Charleston Southern shot just 27.3 percent in the first half, compared to 37.0 percent for the Cougars.
The Bucs exploded to start the second half and went on a 22-9 run the first 10 minutes of the half to retake the lead 39-38. Both teams traded baskets over the next several minutes, with neither one able to keep the lead. With the game tied 53-53 with just under a minute to play, CSU's Pam Tolbert iced a three-pointer to take the lead for good at 56-53. Charleston was unable to convert on opportunities to tie the game and fell to the eventual 58-53 score.
Natalie Caldwell led the Buc charge, scoring all of her team-leading 13 points in the second-half. Keena Wicker posted nine of her 13 points in the second half as well. Rachel Potts and Wicker led the Bucs in rebounds with nine apiece.
Charleston was paced by
Nikki Williams and
Jade Hughes with 13 points each. Melissa Chambers led with seven rebounds.
The Cougars shot just 23.3 percent from the field in the second half to end the game with its second-lowest field goal percentage of the season at 29.8. Charleston Southern, with a dominating 61.5 field goal percentage in the second half, ended the game with 45.8. The Bucs out-rebounded the Cougars 37-36 and had six more turnovers, 24-18.
